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H.R. 4691. Abortion Service Refusals/Vote to Recommit to Committee a Bill Which Jeopardizes Abortion Rights By
Allowing Both Health Care Providers to Refuse to Perform an Abortion and Insurance Companies to Reject Payment for
Abortions.
(2002 house Roll Call 411)

H.R. 4691. Abortion Service Refusals/Vote to Recommit to Committee a Bill Which Jeopardizes Abortion Rights By
Allowing Both Health Care Providers to Refuse to Perform an Abortion and Insurance Companies to Reject Payment for
Abortions.

One of the few procedural prerogatives extended to opponents of legislation in the House is the motion to recommit. That motion, if successful, recommits the bill to committee and is usually accompanied with instructions to change the legislation. During House debate on a bill that would provide hospitals and other health care providers an exemption from performing abortions and permit insurance companies to reject payment for abortions, Congressman Brown (D-OH) offered a motion to recommit the bill with instructions that would have added language in the bill to: 1) clarify that none of the bill's provisions would authorize a medical institution to withhold from patients medically appropriate information or services; 2) disallow a medical care facility from barring its employees from providing all medically appropriate information or services; and 3) prevent the federal law from preempting state laws and regulations. Progressives supported the motion to recommit because, in their view, the original text of the legislation would hinder the rights of women from choosing whether or not to have an abortion. The motion to recommit was rejected by a 191-230 vote margin.